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Jewellery specialist Pandora has become the latest retailer to face a cyber-attack, with the brand confirming yesterday (5 August) that some customer data had been stolen during the incident.<\/span><\/p>\n The business assured that \u201conly very common types of data\u201d had been taken in the attack, and that no passwords or credit card details had been involved.<\/span><\/p>\n Pandora joins a spate of retailers including M&S, Co-op, Harrods, Adidas and Chanel that have been hit with cyber-attacks in recent months.<\/span><\/p>\n Problems for M&S kicked off over the Easter holiday weekend, with shoppers at the food and fashion giant reporting they were unable to use contactless payments or click and collect services<\/span><\/p>\n The retailer\u2019s CEO Stuart Machin went on to inform shoppers that it was \u201cmanaging a cyber incident,\u201d and that it needed to make \u201csome small changes\u201d to store operations to \u201cprotect you and the business\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n On 30 April, fellow grocer Co-op also fell victim to a cyber-attack, with some of the convenience retailer\u2019s back-office systems and call centre services breached.<\/span><\/p>\n Additionally, on 2 May, it emerged that Harrods had faced a cyber-attack, with the department store said to be engaging specialists to help investigate and fix the issue. However, the retailer managed to thwart the attempted intrusion.<\/span><\/p>\n The attacks prompted <\/span>the chair of the Business and Trade Select Committee to write to the bosses of M&S and Co-op<\/span> to seek reassurance that they were managing the incidents effectively.<\/span><\/p>\n Retailers ranging from <\/span>JD Sports<\/span> to <\/span>Boots<\/span> and <\/span>WHSmith<\/span> have all been targeted in recent years, and insurance firm QBE also found that the number of \u201cdisruptive and destructive global cyber-attacks\u201d occurring per year had <\/span>more than doubled from 2020 until 2024.<\/span><\/p>\n With a host of attacks plaguing the industry, what could the cyber-attacks mean for UK retailers, and what is the industry\u2019s best recourse to defend itself?<\/span><\/p>\n The recent torrent of cyber-attacks has shaken up the retail industry, exposing its vulnerabilities and prompting businesses to re-evaluate cyber security strategies.<\/span><\/p>\n To keep themselves safe, Walker Morris regulatory and compliance partner Andrew Northage emphasises that businesses must avoid \u201cstanding still\u201d since hackers are \u201ctrying new things all the time\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cIf you think you can stand still and be cyber protected, that would be a big mistake to make,\u201d he says.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThe picture is constantly moving and evolving, and you have to move and evolve with it. Internally and externally, you need to make sure you\u2019ve got the best support and advice that you can get using people that are really on top of it, because it\u2019s a constantly moving picture.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Retail Technology Magazine publisher Miya Knights also highlights the importance of retailers sharing industry knowledge amongst each other once attacks occur and in order to defend themselves in the first place.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cChief information security officers (CISOs) in retail need to get round a table and talk about what happened and share best practice and knowledge so they can all be better armed against these hackers,\u201d she says.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWhat floats all boats can also sink all boats, so I think they need to share knowledge about what\u2019s happened so they can all be better protected.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n The need for knowledge sharing is particularly urgent, as research from cybersecurity firm Cisco found that just one in four UK firms are fully prepared to defend against increasingly complex cyber threats, with<\/span> nearly half of those surveyed having over ten unfilled cybersecurity roles <\/span>across their respective organisations.<\/span><\/p>\n British Retail Consortium (BRC) CEO Helen Dickinson highlights that \u201cretailers spend hundreds of millions every year to mitigate these risks and ensure they can continue to serve customers,\u201d adding that \u201cmany businesses continue to work closely with the National Cyber Security Centre to share cyber threat intelligence, and are continually reviewing their systems to ensure they are as secure as possible.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Regarding how long recovery from the attacks could take, Northage argues: \u201cI would say probably months, it\u2019s unlikely to be weeks, I\u2019d be surprised if it\u2019s years, but you\u2019re probably looking at six months plus.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cIt very much varies on what information they\u2019ve got, how they got into the systems, and how complex the systems are.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n However, Skillcast CEO Vivek Dodd highlights that the \u201creal damage\u201d to cyber-attacks is often to consumers\u2019 trust, \u201cparticularly when the attack causes wide-spread public concern\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n Northage notes that while the stock shortages at M&S impacted customers, \u201cit also affects the company in terms of a loss of confidence and shoppers going elsewhere.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n He also points out that M&S and Co-op\u2019s loyalty schemes hold \u201clots of customer data\u201d which was \u201cthe sort of thing that would make your average customer nervous\u201d as to what details are out there. <\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n With M&S, Co-op and Harrods the first retailers to hit the headlines with the attacks, shoppers may be left wondering why these particular retailers were vulnerable.<\/span><\/p>\n Although Knights says she does not think anyone can definitively say why they were targeted, they had been picked out on one level due to them being \u201cprominent household names\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re retailers, so security is not core to their businesses in such a way as maybe financial services or the public sector,\u201d she notes.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cBut nevertheless, their turnover makes them an attractive target in the fact that they\u2019re large organisations and they handle a lot of customer data.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Despite this, she argues: \u201cI would expect the hackers targeted a number of retailers, and the reason M&S, Co-op and Harrods have hit the headlines is because they were vulnerable.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Regarding other retailer types that could be at risk, Knights thinks those most vulnerable would be \u201cthose that have a sizable business with large tier one scale turnover across many channels\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThat means they potentially use digital heavily across all of their customer and supplier facing channels, and therefore there is more surface area to secure.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Northage thinks any other retailers could be at risk of cyber-attacks: \u201cWhen M&S and Co-op were the first two, you think is it grocery?<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cBut the fact that we\u2019ve now had Harrods as well says to me that it\u2019s maybe supply chain or it\u2019s something to do with customers where they\u2019ve found the vulnerability.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cObviously lots of other big retailers will have similar systems, particularly if they\u2019re in the FMCG market.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n The attacks raise the question of whether the UK retail sector is particularly vulnerable to cyber-attacks.<\/span><\/p>\n Although Knights does not think so, she argues: \u201cThis is a wakeup call for UK retailers where security may not have been core to their business, but it should be.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n She adds that this is particularly pertinent given the growth of online and multichannel retail in the wake of Covid alongside the declining use of cash amongst shoppers, all of which makes the sector \u201cmore vulnerable\u201d to future cyber-attacks.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cRetail organisations should have the same checks and balances in place as you would expect government organisations and financial services organisations to have,\u201d she concludes.<\/span><\/p>\n![\"M&S](\"https:\/\/www.retailgazette.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Foodhall-interior-2.jpg\")
<\/p>\n\u2018A constantly moving picture\u2019<\/h3>\n
![\"Harrods\"](\"https:\/\/www.retailgazette.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/harrods-cyber-attack.jpg.webp)
\n<\/picture>\nThe impacts from the M&S attack in particular were wide reaching, with issues including <\/span>empty shelves,<\/span> the <\/span>suspension of all online orders, <\/span>and shutting its work from home staff out of some of its IT systems.<\/span><\/p>\n![\"M&S\"](\"https:\/\/www.retailgazette.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/ms-screenshot.jpg.webp)
\n<\/picture>\nWho else is at risk?<\/h3>\n![\"Co-op\"](\"https:\/\/www.retailgazette.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Wincanton-proudly-renews-30-year-partnership-with-Co-op.jpg.webp)
\n<\/picture>\nA \u2018wakeup call\u2019 for UK retailers<\/h3>\n